Babylon 5 scripts being published - including the alternate B5 outline with Sinclair (1 Viewer)

[Joseph DeMartino]

JMS: "I'm going to announce a new project at SDCC"

Fan: "My cat says there's going to be a new B5 project"

JMS: "Your cat must know what I'm going to say at SDCC"

I don't think there's any "reading into" necessary here. He isn't giving away specifics, but he isn't exactly talking in code, either.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Andy_Bu]

Will JMS be talking on Saturday or Sunday to announce this?

Andy

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The "Spotlight On" session devoted to JMS is scheduled for Saturday at 5 PM PT. He'll be doing a couple of other panels and what-not starting on Thursday, but the Saturday event is really the only one where an announcement like this would be appropriate, since it is the only big event devoted to his work exclusively. His other events are shared panels on things like his Marvel Comics work, or the He Man & She-Ra cartoons. He's also doing a classroom-style mini-master class on screenwriting on Friday, which should be terribly interesting but not the kind of big crowd career-overview event that the "Spotlight On" will be, and therefore also not a place for a new project announcement. He doesn't appear to be confirmed for any panels or other appearances on Sunday, at least according to my search results.

http://www.comic-con.org/cci/index.shtml

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

BTW, it has now come to light that he told fans at Charlotte that a new project involving B5 was in the works and that it "doesn't involve more novels."

Damn.

Is it Saturday yet?



Joe

 

[nolesrule]

No, not yet. Keep counting.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Here's a report from the field, courtesy of my friend Jan Schroeder, who attended the con:


I believe the appropriate reaction is "Woo-hoo!"

Regards,

Joe

 

[nolesrule]

I read her report on rastb5m, and I'll second that "Woo-hoo!"

 

[George_W_K]

Well, I love B5 for the most part. But after viewing the movies in the B5 Movie Collection, I have my reservations about any new projects. They weren't nearly as intriguing as the show was to me. I did like "In the Beginnig" and "The Gathering". If season 5 didn't end on such a high note, I would've given up on B5 all together.

But, I realize it's still early to make any real judgements.

 

[oscar_merkx]

this is awesome.

I'd say more of Sinclair's past with Sheridan perhaps

 

[Andy_Bu]

Questions about the good B5 news

1) Can any one give a definition of what a "mini movie" is in length (85 minutes?)

2) How can something be direct to DVD and carried by a network at the same time?

Andy

 

[Andy_Bu]

The Gathering was not a new project. It was made before Season 1 as the pilot to the series.

I personally thought A Call to Arms and Thirdspace were excellent, along with In the Beginning. Legends and River of Souls were the two weakest "new projects" for me.

Andy

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

1) Can any one give a definition of what a "mini movie" is in length (85 minutes?)

JMS didn't say as far as I can determine. That may be one of the things they're hashing out now. It may depend on whether or not they're airing on a network or going direct to DVD, where there aren't the same timeslot constraints. (See answer # 2. )

2) How can something be direct to DVD and carried by a network at the same time?

JMS says that there's a network interested, but that Warner Bros. is prepared to go into production with The Lost Tales for the direct-to-DVD market even if no network agrees to carry the program. So he wasn't strictly-speaking talking about doing both at the same time. But there's plenty of precedent for airing a program and releasing it on DVD simultaneously or almost simlutaneously. PBS has done a fair amount of this lately with their shows, and Warner Bros. recently issued a longer version of their Superman documentary, Look! Up in the Sky!, on DVD right after the shorter one aired on A&E (as part of the publicity blitz for Superman Returns.

Regards,

Joe

 

[David_Blackwell]

Mini-movies?! I want to see Crusade resolved.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

"One thing at a time, Ambassador; one thing at a time." -- Mr. Morden



Look, in the eyes of most of the industry Crusade is a TV show that failed. Nobody but the fans and JMS remembers the circumstances, so the first thing Warner Bros. is going to think of when it comes to B5 is not, "Let's bring back that show that lasted 13 episodes and did OK on DVD but not nearly as well as Babylon 5."

Which is not to say a Crusade revival (or reboot, more likely) is impossible. When JMS was planning the Rangers series for Sci-Fi he planned the timeline in such a way that if Rangers was a big enough hit they could do a Crusade spin-off after a couple of years and have both shows set in the same year, allowing for cross-overs. If Rangers just did OK, he still planned to resolve at least some of the Crusade story threads in the new series.

Like Sci-Fi before it, WB wants to do a B5 project closely tied to the B5 story and characters because the original is the one that has had all the success. If The Lost Tales does well and they can work in some adventures that touch on the Crusade story, that may open the door to a new series. (Given the length of time since the show aired and the scattering of the cast and crew, plus the fact that there were only 13 original episodes, only 5 or 6 of which were really what JMS wanted them to be, I think any Crusade revival should be a complete reboot.)

BTW, for what it is worth: JMS apparently indicated that the Lost Tales DVDs would contain 3 "episodes" each and they would therefore be shot in batches of three. On a double-layered DVD you've got room - depending on soundtracks, extras and the like, for about 2 hours per layer. So you could be looking at anything between three 75 minute episodes (which would air in a 90 minute slot) and three 90 minute movies (which would air in a 2 hour slot) I don't see them doing one hours episodes because they can easily fit four of those on a disc and would plan it that way. I think he may have something like the 90 minute Columbo mystery movies and similar offerings in mind.

I think that might also be a good length for JMS. His one hour scripts sometimes feel stuffed to overflowing, while his "two hour" TV movie scripts sometimes feel padded. I think a 90 page script length is a damned awkward one for someone disciplined to the 44-pages per hours of weekly television. It is more than an episode, but not really as much as a theatrical movie where things are less constrained and you can do 92 minutes of story or 129 if that's what the material requires. What happens when you have 85 minutes of story and now have to add another 7 pages to your script?

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

An update from JMS:

 

[DaveGTP]

Yay, new B5!!!

This deserves its own thread, though. People that aren't big enough fans to buy scripts might be interested.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I think when we're a little closer to a release date (on TV on DVD or on both) it will make sense to start a separate thread, maybe in a different forum. Besides, there is another thread asking about the possibilty of B5 going direct-to-DVD and this news has been posted there, as well.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Paul McElligott]

These B5 script books must be successful, because the Roddenberry estate is copycatting the whole idea, including selling TV shirts and other merchandise with Roddenberry quotes on them.

And, typically, the Star Trek folks must think their fans are made of money. Each book contains only one script and will be available for one month at a time. To cap it off, the scripts sell for $24.95 each! No discount for early orders, either. Man, $39.95 for seven scripts at a time sounds like an even better deal now.

I might be persauded to spring for a few important episodes, like "Tribbles", "Space Seed" and "City on the Edge of Forever" but there's no way I'm signing on for the whole ride.

Damn, it never ceases to amaze me just how generous JMS is with us fans.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

If you want Harlan Ellison's original script for The City on the Edge of Forever, along with outlines, note, his definitive account of the writing and making of the episode, read his book.

Does it say anywhere that they are publishing all of the scripts? I have to say, I'm a little confused by the legality of all this. The TOS scripts were presumably all written before the separation of rights provision of the WGA contract gave screenwriter's the publishing rights to their own scripts, and I don't think the SoR was retroactive. But in that case Paramount, not Roddenberry, would have owned the scripts.

If the SoR were retroactive, then Roddenberry (and now his estate) would be able to publish his own scripts (and possibly those he had shared writing credit on - although I'm not sure on this point) but not those of other writers. (As JMS is only publishing the B5 scripts he wrote.)

Unless the Roddenberry estate has made a deal with either Paramount or all the other writers, I don't see how they can publish more than a handful of scripts.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Paul McElligott]

They don't say anything about publishing all of the scripts or just Roddenberry's. It's all left pretty fuzzy. They will be publishing more. That's all they say.

Now that the sticker shock has worn off, $24.95 is actually pretty standard for scripts. It is, however, a pretty steep markup over Cafepress's base price for a 95 page book.